https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=78qjQOMfu9c
A year ago yesterday that Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, gave a speech at the ADL. And the speech was very surprising to many people because of its tone. It has a kind of crusading tone to it, a kind of moralism and a kind of heroic attitude in the CEO of Apple. And because I talked about it in my last video on the symbolism of 666, I thought we could look at the speech and see it as a very particularly good example of a symbolism happens moment where all the elements are coming together to manifest something. And so what is it manifesting? It seems to have something to do with the problem of the symbolism of 666. And so that is what we’re going to look at today. [“Pomp and Circumstance”] This is Jonathan Pajot. Welcome to the symbolic world. Now, of course, when we start the video of Tim Cook, the first thing to notice is of course the tone. The tone is extremely aggressive. There’s a kind of certainty in the way that he talks. There is also something about his hand movements which is extremely, extremely sure of himself and extremely clear that he has this moral vision that he wants to accomplish. Now we have to always remember that he is not a politician. He isn’t a pastor or a priest or a rabbi. He is a CEO of a company that makes tech, that makes technological devices. We only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division and violence. You have no place on our platform. But I think it’s important to see how all the elements come together in this particular speech, which is what makes it so unsettling. This year, we’ve seen the stubborn and constant evils of antisemitism, violence and hate. Now the first thing he talks about is of course, the, he talks about this year, and it’s very important to be speaking this particular year because of the resurgence of antisemitism, hate and violence that happened during the year, but also this resurgence of hope and of people standing up and opening their eyes. And it’s fascinating to notice that he’s also, he talks about how we are a society that is bound by the values that hold us together. And you wonder, what are those values? It’s very fascinating because as we, most of us watch the society fragment, the question is, what are the values? And the thing is that he will tell you in the speech what his values are. Despair is unethical. Now the first thing he brings up is this speech that he saw and this lady who talked about how it is unethical to despair. Now it’s very important to notice that this is the first sign of what it is that he’s going to be talking about. That his speech isn’t actually about morality. It isn’t actually about values. What it is about is about two things. And it is the two things that I showed you in the symbolism of 666 in my last video. The two things are inclusion and system. That is, the only value that really matters is the value of inclusion. And the only thing that is a problem is that if you oppose yourself to that system, which is created to include everybody. And you can see it in the first thing that he says, which is that it is unethical to despair. That is a crazy statement to make. It is crazy to say that it is unethical to despair because despair already is this first sense of this breakdown which happens in the margin. He frames it first in terms of meaning and in terms of your place in the world and your vision for the future. And he says the first thing is that it is immoral for there to be something on the edge of that. It is immoral for there to be a breakdown of that hope. It is unethical. And that is a very fascinating thing. And so because it is unethical, then we have to mobilize ourselves and we have to act. We have to act in order to prevent there from being despair because despair is itself unethical. The breakdown of meaning is unethical. Everything has to fit within this system. Never forget that the devices we make are imagined by human minds, built by human hands, and are meant to improve human lives. Now the next point he makes is very fascinating because it actually seems to make sense. He talks about how he has a technology company, but that his technology company must always remember that it is not just tech, that it is run by people, that it is for people, and that the purpose of his devices are there to make the lives of people better. That’s what he says. But I worry less about computers that think like people and more about people that think like computers. He mentioned that he worries more about people who think like computers than computers who think like people. And you would think that this is good because you say, okay, here’s quality coming back. Here’s value coming back into the world. But like I told you, this is not about morality. This is actually not about values in the traditional sense of what we think of. The only values that matter, once again, I will repeat it, are inclusion and don’t oppose the system of inclusion. Those are the two things that really matter. And so let’s keep looking and we’ll see how it plays out. Do not be indifferent to the bloodshed of your fellow man. Do not be indifferent. And so he gives us this extremely, he gives us this moralizing thing. This moralizing teaching, which he says very interestingly enough, he says do not be indifferent to the bloodshed of your fellow man. And he links it to a teaching from Judaism. But then for some reason, he connects it to something that Muslims did. He said Muslims also hold that teaching. It’s very stretched connection because he talks about how Muslims raise money for a shooting which happened in a synagogue, which is of course praiseworthy. But it’s strange that he would connect those two together. He says this is a teaching which is found in all the traditions, but then he says it’s found in Judaism and it’s found in Islam. Now obviously when somebody says Judaism and Islam and then keeps going, there’s something missing. There’s something which is not part of that pattern, which seems like there’s a missing element. I wonder what it is. He’s speaking in the United States to Americans who most of all come from one tradition. But like I said, this is about inclusion. It’s about making sure that all the margins are included. That’s the only thing that matters. Addressing the center and saying that this is somehow connected to a Christian teaching would be going away from what he wants, which is not to affirm a center, but rather just to include all the margins. This mandate moves us to speak up for immigrants and for those who seek opportunity in the United States. It moves us to speak up for the LGBTQ community. So and then he proves his point right away because right away, what examples does he give? The examples of do not worry about the bloodshed of your fellow man. He could have mentioned a million things that are happening. He could have mentioned people getting tortured in China in concentration camps. The same thing happening in Korea, in North Korea. There are, or the slave trade that is happening in Muslim countries right now. He could have mentioned a million things, but what he mentions is welcome for immigrants. And he also mentions that we need to be sensitive to the LGBT community. Now, there’s nothing wrong with doing that. There’s nothing wrong. There’s something, it’s good to welcome people who are welcome strangers. It’s good to not be hostile to those who are visitors who will come from the outside. It’s also good to not be actively hostile to people who are living in the margins who have marginal identities, of course. But it’s strange that those are the examples that he uses. Of course, he’s participating in a social pattern. He’s not thinking only on his own. He’s playing out a political narrative that is not just him. But here it’s all condensated very nicely into one little speech. And so when he talks about do not, so when he talks about what his values are, he will always come to this one thing, which is inclusion of everything inside. That’s why we only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division, and violence. And then comes the injunction. And he does it with his finger out, and he’s pointing, and he’s speaking about how this religious thinking of do not, that to care about the bloodshed of your fellow man is bringing him to one conclusion, which is we should not be indifferent about letting hate, violence enter into their platforms. And so they have to stand up and stop hate and violence and all these horrible things that are on their platform. And you’re thinking, okay, okay, I mean, I’ll move along with you and let’s see where that leads you though, because it’s a very fascinating thing to hear coming from a tech company, and especially a tech company that hosts media. You have no place on our platforms. So there’s part of us that could cheer and we could be like, okay, I mean, I’m a traditional person, I agree. I think that we shouldn’t be pushing hate and violence and everything. And I’m thinking, that’s great. So I could go, maybe I could go on the iTunes store and check out to see what’s going on. And I’m thinking, finally, they’re going to get rid of those songs in death metal by bands like Gwar or Cannibal Corpse that talk about raping women with knives and killing and raping children. Maybe I could, maybe those are the, maybe finally those are gonna go away. There are songs in rap music that talk about similar subjects. What about Eminem’s song where he talks about being with his daughter and choking his girlfriend to death and then burying her with his four-year-old girl? Maybe finally he’s gonna get rid of those songs. Maybe finally he’s gonna get rid of that stuff. And what about all those horror movies that depict violence and rape and murder and torture? How about all of those? I mean, finally, you think Apple is gonna come on our side, gonna come on the Christian side and get rid of all that crap, right? Well, no, that’s not what it’s about. That is not at all what it’s about. It is not about violence and hate and all of that. It is about one thing and one thing only. It’s about exclusion. We have always prohibited music with a message of white supremacy. (audience applauding) Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. And as we showed this year, we won’t give a platform to violent conspiracy theorists on the App Store. (audience applauding) Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. And so he attacks two things. He says, it’s the right thing to do. Why are we doing this? It’s the right thing to do, but he attacks two things. He attacks one thing. He says, white supremacy. And you could kind of understand that. I’m not a fan of white supremacy myself. It has been a tool for violence in the past. It has been a tool for violent colonization. I’m not a big fan of white supremacy. Okay, fine. But then he says, violent conspiracy theories. Interesting. That’s very fascinating. Those are the two things that he mentions. He mentions, one, white supremacy, which is the desire to exclude or to marginalize all those that aren’t part of your identity. And the second is conspiracy theories that question the government. And so I told you, it’s about two things. It’s about exclusion and questioning the system. And so he will leave on his platform, he will leave Cannibal Corpse, but he will get rid of Alex Jones. Because obviously, questioning the narrative and questioning how the government does things is extremely dangerous, but talking about necrophilia and horrible things that I can’t even mention, that is totally fine. That is not a problem. My friends, if we can’t be clear on moral questions like these, then we’ve got big problems. At Apple, we are not afraid to say that our values drive our curation decisions. And so he tells you what it’s about. And it’s interesting because he really does have this moralistic tone. He’s like an inquisitor. He’s standing there and he’s telling you, this is the truth. And so we will impose it. If it wasn’t the truth, we wouldn’t impose it. It’s always how an inquisitor acts, right? He says, if it was a lie, I wouldn’t impose it on you, but because it is the truth, and it is clear that it is the truth, then why wouldn’t I impose it on you? Of course I will impose it on you. And he says it’s the right thing to do. And there again is that finger pointing at you, obviously, because he’s not the problem, it’s you who are the problem. And our platform is going to solve that problem. And so what world does he want to build? And we believe the future should belong to those who use technology to build a better, more inclusive, and more hopeful world. And so technology should be there for people who want to build a better. So he gives you three. He gives you three. Better gives you the idea that this is the value. This is a better world. But I’ll tell you what a better world is. A better world is more inclusive and hopeful. That is, including all the margins, including everything in it, and also not leaving anything on the side which would question meaning. That’s what despair is. And so hopeful and inclusion. And it’s fascinating because understanding that that is what they want, and that is really the only thing that drives them, can help you understand recent things that have been popping up in the story of Apple, can help you understand why Apple will say that it opposes hate and violence, and is doing the right thing, and is always acting on its values, but then they’ll totally compromise in facing China, and will give in to the Chinese government as they are persecuting protesters. Because they are also persecuting protesters. They want to shut down the conspiracy theories. They want to shut down those that question the system. And their system is a system of absolute inclusion. That is a system that doesn’t have a center, except the center of just including everything, and being a totalizing system. I believe the most sacred thing that each of us has given is our judgment, our morality, our own innate desire to separate right from wrong. Now this is where the speech now becomes mythological. It really becomes a symbolism happen moment. Tim Cook says the most sacred thing that we have is our capacity to decide, to see what is right and what is wrong. Now we have to now bring everything together. We have to not forget that the very symbolism that Apple chose for its company is an image of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is the very symbol that they used to represent them. And that now in his speech, he is telling you, he is telling you that this is the most sacred part. The highest thing is the knowledge of good and evil. And later in the speech, he will go really further than that and will even say that it is actually, that we are the divine part. We are actually the divine part that will come out of the machine. And so when he talks, he talks about the story of the God out of the machine. And he says that there’s this trope, this ancient trope of the God out of the machine. And in this trope, it’s a trope in theater, it was an old trope to talk about how, you solve a narrative problem through technology. You just have a crane which picks the character up and takes him out of the problem. And it was also this idea that God just appears and just kind of solves the issue in the narrative. And so the narrative doesn’t resolve itself naturally. And so he says, but you can see that he, there’s something about that that he wants. He understands that there’s something about that that he wants, but he doesn’t want the machine to rule. He wants us, he wants us to rule. He wants us to be the God out of the machine. In the God out of the machine part, he says, we are the ones who are the God part. Now connect that to what he said just before, which is that our most sacred capacity is to differentiate good and evil. And what do you have? You have the snake in the garden who is telling Eve to eat the fruit and that that is how she will be like God. And if, and you can see that if someone thinks that, if someone thinks that, if someone has that pride to think that they are like God, that that capacity makes them like God, then what will they do? They will have no fear in their action. All their action is going to be turned towards the outside. Tim Cook doesn’t question himself. Tim Cook doesn’t look at his own passions, at least not in this speech. He’s not saying, you know, that he sees the hate and the violence and the prejudice in his own heart. No, no, no, it’s all outside. It’s all them. And we, because we are the good part, we are the ones who are going to build this machine using our divine capacity to tell the difference between good and evil. We are going to create a system that has what? That has perfect inclusion and it’s a system that you cannot question. And the only sin, right? The only real sin is to not accept that, is to not accept that system because it’s true, right, Tim? It has to be true. If it wasn’t true, he wouldn’t be imposing it. And this of course is where you get the full image of 666 symbolism. This notion of an all encompassing system, which you have to be part of. And that if you question the system, if you refuse it, you are not able to participate in public discourse. You can be fully excluded from the public space in terms of trade, in terms of voice, in terms of place. And we can see that all these tech companies, of course it’s not just Apple, but if you think of Apple and Google and all these companies and PayPal and the credit card and all this digital banking, that it is possible and it seems like it’s happening to create a system that will, that by wanting to include everything, explicitly not leaving things in the margin, by wanting to take the margin and give it a proper identity will create this totalizing contradiction of which the only sin will be to not want to be in the system or to question the narrative that it is proposing. Because it isn’t in their idea a narrative, it’s the truth. It’s just the fullness of reality being presented to you. So what I hope is that I hope that this little glimpse into Tim Cook’s speech has helped you understand a little more what I was talking about in my video on the symbolism of 666. And I think also I just want to say, we have to be careful in not pointing fingers. I’m not saying that Apple is the beast or that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that this process that we’re seeing happening in front of us is participating in the symbolism of 666. And we need to be attentive to it because it’s going to do what it’s going to do. It’s going to do what is described in Revelations, which is that if you do not accept their sign on your forehead, in your mind and in your action, if you do not accept their sign, their total inclusion, then you will not be able to participate. You will not be able to participate in society. And it seems like that is the image of the world that they have. And so I hope this was useful in understanding some more symbolism. And so guys, I will see you soon. Talking about trading and participating in society, at least for now, it is still possible to engage. And I designed some new things for the Christmas season, a few t-shirts and some new merchandise. People seem to be appreciated. And it was even shared by Rod Dreher on Twitter, the t-shirt on the six days of creation. So check it out. You still have a few days to order it so that it’ll arrive before Christmas. So if you’re interested, go ahead. And thanks a lot, everybody, for your support. Don’t forget to subscribe also to the Clips channel, which is putting stuff out almost every day, I think. Thank you for the volunteers who are involved in that. And I will talk to everybody very soon.